Pam Parsons on Pokey Chatman: 'I Felt for Her'

LSU's Pokey Chatman is not the first women's basketball coach to resign because of a sexual relationship with one of her players. In 1982, Pam Parsons, the women's basketball coach at the University of South Carolina, resigned after it came to light that she had a sexual relationship with one of her players, Tina Buck, who was 17 at the time the relationship began.

Now Parsons has spoken for the first time about Chatman.

"I felt for her," Parsons said, referring to Chatman. "Oh, my God, I felt for her. Because, I mean, it puts you in the position of reflecting for a moment what that felt like when you fell so far from grace. And to fall that far from grace, you hope that no other human has to face that."

Times have changed quite a bit since Parsons lost her job: In 1982 the mere fact that she was a lesbian was in many ways seen as the scandal. Parsons and Buck both sued Sports Illustrated for libel for publishing a story saying they were lesbians, and both ended up going to jail for four months for perjury when it became clear that they lied under oath during that trial by saying they were not lesbians.

I hope that now that we're in 2007, we understand that what's inappropriate here is that Parsons and Chatman had sexual relationships with young people they were hired to coach. I don't know if Chatman has been treated the same way a male coach who had a sexual relationship with a player would be treated, but she should be.

Note: The picture of Parsons was taken as she testified to the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Clinton's impeachment revolved around lying under oath about a sexual relationship, and Parsons was asked to testify because she knows something about lying under oath about a sexual relationship.